Letters

Like most everyone with newspaper, news magazine, television or Internet facilities, I've been keeping up with (as best as I can) the latest national and state political developments.

Sometimes things move too fast for me to absorb and understand them, especially on the national front. It gets confusing when there are two national parties and dozens of candidates competing for the presidential nominations, though events have narrowed the fields considerably and made it somewhat easier to follow.

The Lexington Herald-Leader and WHAS 11 recently reported about the Beshear Administration's firing of Eric Landis, an Air National Guardsman who had served as a staffer to Gov. Ernie Fletcher. Beshear fired Airman Landis less than a month after he returned from active duty in violation of state and federal law.

At first, I was reluctant to speak out on behalf of Landis, who is a registered Republican, because I did not want to politicize this issue. I actually felt it was worth giving the Beshear Administration the opportunity to do the right thing.

Here I am having to put in my two cents' worth about another issue of our country. This time, I'm talking about how too many soldiers, one is too many, who upon returning home from war with certain problems, are being told a bunch of lies about those problems so somebody else can save a buck elsewhere.

There's more evidence that this great nation of ours is heading for a downfall of which the likes we have never seen before. It's not enough our working class people are being done wrong, now those in charge of this land won't even take care of those who fight for us.

I was reading in a paper the other day about the first opening of a Louisville area Bruster's Real Ice Cream Store. It said the shop would sell close to 200 ice cream flavors, with up to 24 of them offered daily. Each made fresh at the shop. Flavors include cherry cheesecake, chocolate raspberry truffle and caramel ice cream.

I want to invite everyone interested to the ARC of Lake Cumberland Area meeting. ARC is a national organization that advocates for people with developmental disabilities/mental retardation. The monthly meetings are held at the Golden Corral in Somerset on Highway 27 at noon on the fourth Thursday of every month. The meeting is open to consumers, family members and concerned citizens.

On behalf of the Kentucky Baptist Convention's Committee on Public Affairs, I want to express our strong opposition to the effort to expand gambling by bringing casinos to our Commonwealth. We realize that the current state budget situation makes gambling expansion an attractive short-term fix to problems. However, we believe the benefits touted by the gambling industry are more imagined than real.

When discussing smoking bans, arguments about health dangers are usually the first to be raised. I would like to settle this dispute once and for all with airtight evidence that smoking is dangerous to both smokers and those in their company.

Even if tomorrow the Surgeon General took back every negative claim that has been released about how harmful tobacco smoke is, and we had solid scientific proof that inhaling smoke was no more harmful than breathing fresh air, smokers still pose a danger to themselves and others.

My name is Jenia Webb-Sizemore. I live in Leslie County, Ky. I am unofficially lobbying for a House Bill called "Romeo's Law."

Unofficially means I've taken this task upon myself. I have not been recruited by any elected politician. I am a pet owner and I have worked in the criminal law field for 18 years.

After seeing State Rep. Stan Lee on my local news being interviewed regarding his proposal of the bill and hearing very little about Romeo, I researched Romeo's story and could not believe what this poor puppy went through at the hands of his owner.

I would like to give my thoughts regarding the article, "Schools could face major cuts."

Most people don't ask themselves a few simple questions regarding where money ultimately comes from to fund our public schools. Everyone should be outraged by who and what backs up this money.

All this money, which is really credit, comes from the Federal Reserve. The FED is privately owned by international bankers and is independent of the U.S. government. The Federal Reserve Act was passed Dec. 23, 1913.